The first look at Disney's upcoming live action The Lion King film from director John Favreau was shown at D23 Expo, and goodness gracious, it knocked my damn socks off.
Disney has turned a lot of its animated classics into live action films already, and with new takes on Dumbo, Aladdin and Mulan on the horizon, it's not stopping anytime soon. But Favreau proved with The Jungle Book that the technology developed to bring these animals to life through CGI did create an immersive new adventure that justified its existence.
All of this is necessary set up when describing what we saw from The Lion King, because -- even with the not fully polished footage we saw at D23 Expo -- this new project absolutely follows in the footsteps of The Jungle Book's incredible recreation of these animal characters.
The Lion King first footage reveal was close to a frame-for-frame recreation of the "Circle of Life" opening of the animated movie. We see the sun rise over the African savanna, though of course this time it actually is a real sunrise over the horizon. The film is shot to match up with the same shots of the animals you see during that opening sequence in the cartoon, and they look photo-realistic despite being CGI. It's especially powerful when you see them running by a realistic shot of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.
As this is the "Circle of Life" sequence, the crowd went nuts when the camera pulled back and revealed Pride Rock. It truly was stunning how carefully and effectively Favreau and his team captured the imagery of the animated movie and brought it realistically and powerfully to life in this film.
Of course, if we're heading up to Pride Rock, we did see Rafiki, who looks very similar to how he looks in the cartoon, though a bit less gangly and a bit more realistic than as cartoony. The biggest character design change was for Simba, simply because he is a lot furrier than he was in the cartoon. Instead of being as round and stylized as baby Simba in animation, this version is a bit closer to a realistic lion cub. No cause for alarm: he is so. damn. cute. He sneezes at one point in a shot that seemed to be a good showcase of how this movie will try to have its characters both be adorable while also realistically animalistic.
The sequence ends with Rafiki marking Simba and then presenting him by holding him up over the animals gathered at Pride Rock. Favreau then took the stage, and told the gathered crowd that "we know how important this is" to not tarnish the legacy of a film as beloved as The Lion King. "We're working hard, we love you guys and we love this movie," he said. Note: Disney has not stated when and if it will release this first look at the film.
This footage obviously hewed very closely to the animated movie. That seems to be a sign that the rest of the story will do the same in the style of Disney's Beauty and the Beast live action film, but the actual plot of the live action Lion King wasn't discussed on the panel. We also didn't learn any additional casting beyond the previously announced Donald Glover as Simba. Rumored additional cast include Beyonce, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner and John Oliver.
For more of our D23 coverage, check out this breakdown of how the Guardians of the Galaxy meet the Avengers in Infinity War. Additionally, get a look behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, plus watch the first trailer for Ava Duverney's A Wrinkle in Time.
Terri Schwartz is Editorial Producer at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.
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